Vazhakka Thoran | Kerala Style Raw Banana Stir Fry

Vazhakka Thoran is an easy and classic dish made with Raw banana and coconut. This version of stir fry can be easily served with rice or rotis.

In the last few months, the state of Kerala has been in the news because of floods and devastation across the state. Many people have lost their near and dear ones. In the middle of all this devastation, news channels also showed us resilience and positive vibe that the people of Kerala have.

This month i was paired with Anu Kollon from Ente Thattukada and she gave me coconut and raw banana as my secret ingredients. This gave me the perfect opportunity to make the traditional Vazhakka Thoran.

My quest to make a very traditional dish using coconut and raw banana led me to my neighbour’s (Aruni’s) house. After chatting with her on various recipes like kallan or erissery, i decided to make a simple dry raw banana preparation to go with rice last week.

Did you know this about Banana??

Did you know the banana plant might be the only plant where almost all parts of the plant get used and nothing goes waste?? Let me write how 🙂

Banana plant Stem / trunk – Also known as Vazhai thandu in tamil, this part of the plant is used in south indian cuisine to make a raita or a dry sabzi.

Banana leaves – The leaves which are large and water proof, are very commonly used as plates to serve food in marriages or family functions. It is also used to make eco-friendly containers in India.

Banana flower – In south India this part of the plant is used as a vegetable to make dry sabzis or even tasty vadas (fried lentil fritters).

Raw banana – Raw banana is very versatile and can be used in curries / sabzis as a vegetable or gets used to make some yummy chips.

Ripe banana – What can i say, that you dont know, in Banana cake, in fried bananas or had just as a fruit, so many options to eat these.

Coming back to the recipe, I made the Vazhakka Thoran as an accompaniment to sambar/rasam rice for lunch, but it can also be served with mixed rice varieties or rotis.

Thorans are a Kerala Specialty and Vazhakka especially is one of my favourites. My recipe is very similar, except being a Palakkad Iyer, we skip the pearl onions in the thoran at home. Very filling with just one serving along with Kootu or Sambar of your choice. Loved it.

Thoran looks delicious. Loved this easy yet super yummy dish. I always in search and experiment with raw banana. Now I have a new recipe to try. Thanks for the simple and delicious traditional recipe. Awesome share.

Priya, vazhakka thoran looks very inviting. You just gave me an idea to make this without the onion for fasting. Always looking for new recipes for fasting and this one is not only filling but also healthy.

My mom always made plain vazhakkai, and the I get these gorgeous ones from my friend with shallots and broken bits of chillies. one day we exchanged boxes and i bunked classes to go show my mom. I could see my moms red face till today, he couldnt believe I bunked classes for vazhakka thoran!!! thanks for bringing back the memories

Such a tasty looking dish. And I love the purple mat it is resting on! The thought of the flavours that the shallots and coconut would bring, is mouth watering. I must try this version with hot rasam and rice sometime.